1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera with a slidable cover. More particularly, the present invention relates to a camera with an improved structure relevant to a slidable cover for protecting a front of a movable lens barrel.
2. Description Related to the Prior Art
There is a camera in which a movable lens barrel can be collapsed inside a camera body. This structure is effective in portability in manual handling because of its small size. Also, a camera having a slidable cover in the front of the camera is known. The slidable cover is movable in front of the movable lens barrel in a horizontal direction across the optical axis, and protects the front of the movable lens barrel.
There have been various suggestions for protecting the movable lens barrel by locking the slidable cover before the complete collapsing of the movable lens barrel in the camera having the movable lens barrel of the collapsible type. For instance, JP-A 1-255839 discloses a structure in which a stopper is disposed in a movable manner into and out of a moving locus of a projection protruding from the rear of the slidable cover in response to the rotational movement of the movable lens barrel. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,028 (corresponding to JP-A 10-171001) discloses another form of the stopper movable in an optical axis direction in response to movement of the movable lens barrel in the parallel direction. An end of the stopper is engaged with the slidable cover for locking.
For the purpose of great ease in the manual operation, the slidable cover has a smoothly openable structure. It is likely that great external force is applied to the slidable cover. The stopper must have a sufficient strength resistant to the force to the slidable cover because of locking of the slidable cover. In the known structures of the prior art, the stopper is produced from expensive metal with considerable hardness for the purpose of obtaining high strength. Furthermore, it has been suggested that a portion of the stopper receiving force from the slidable cover is separate from mechanical portions for transmission. Thus, a product of the camera is likely to be very costly, which is inconsistent to reduction of the size for the purpose of lowering a manufacturing cost.